CISLAC Urges PMB To Assent The Petroleum Bill

The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to assent to the Petroleum Industry and Governance Bill (PIGB) recently sent to him by the national assembly.

A statement signed by the executive director of CISLAC, Auwal Musa, which was made available to LEADERSHIP yesterday, urged President Buhari to rethinks his decision and place national interest above any other interests.

The group reminded the president of his promises to reform the country’s oil and gas sector, during his election campaigns and repeatedly after his election in 2015.

The statement read in parts, “CISLAC finds it worrisome that in spite of the established losses the nation incurs due to the absence of this law, the President did not consider it a matter of national importance to assent to the bill.”

The group also described as unacceptable the claim by the presidency that the provision of the law whittles down the powers of the President, noting that it only reveals the intension to retain the power of discretionary award of licenses and oil blocs by the President.